Perimeter monitoring device for work vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10321097-B2
Application number	US-201615283557-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2016
Priority date	Jun 7, 2011
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A perimeter monitoring device is configured to monitor a surrounding of a work vehicle and to display a monitored result on a display device. The perimeter monitoring device comprises a vehicle information detecting part, a plurality of cameras, a bird's-eye image display unit, a plurality of obstacle detecting sensors, an obstacle processing part, and a camera image displaying unit. The vehicle information detecting part detects a speed of the work vehicle. The cameras capture image data regarding the surrounding of the work vehicle. The bird's-eye image display unit displays a bird's-eye image based on the image data. The obstacle detecting sensors detect obstacles in the surrounding. The obstacle processing part issues a warning when an obstacle is detected. The camera image displaying unit displays a camera image adjacent the bird's-eye image. The images are not displayed and the warning is not issued when the vehicle speed exceeds a threshold value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle configured to monitor a surrounding of the work vehicle and to display a monitored result on a display device, the perimeter monitoring device comprising:
a display controller;
an obstacle processing part;
a vehicle information detecting part configured and arranged to detect a vehicle speed of the work vehicle and transmit the vehicle speed to the display controller;
a plurality of cameras attached to the work vehicle, the cameras being configured and arranged obtain image data regarding the surrounding of the work vehicle and transmit the image data to the display controller; and
a plurality of obstacle detecting sensors attached to the work vehicle, the obstacle detecting sensors being configured and arranged to detect obstacles in the surrounding of the work vehicle and transmit detection data to the obstacle processing part;
the obstacle processing part being configured to compute a positional coordinate of an obstacle or a plurality of obstacles when the obstacle detecting sensors have detected the obstacle or the plurality of obstacles, the obstacle processing part being further configured to determine whether or not the positional coordinate is within a warning range and transmit a warning output to the display controller when the positional coordinate is within the warning range, and
the display controller being configured such that
when the vehicle speed is smaller than or equal to the predetermined threshold value, the display controller displays a bird's-eye image of the surrounding of the work vehicle on the display device based on the image data obtained by the cameras and displays a camera image based the image data obtained by one of the cameras adjacent to the bird's eye image on the display device,
when the vehicle speed is smaller than or equal to the predetermined threshold value and the warning output indicates that the positional coordinate is within the warning range, the display controller issues a warning, and
when the vehicle speed is larger than the predetermined threshold value, the display controller does not display the bird's-eye image, does not display the camera image, and does not issue the warning regardless of the warning output.

2. The perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle recited in claim 1 , wherein
the display controller is configured to specify one or a plurality of camera images that capture at least one obstacle among the obstacle or plurality of obstacles when the obstacle detecting sensors have detected an obstacle or a plurality of obstacles, and
the display controller is configured to assign a priority ranking to each of the cameras based on a traveling state of the work vehicle and to select a camera image having a highest priority ranking among the camera images specified by the camera image specifying unit as the camera image displayed adjacent to the bird's-eye image.

3. The perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle recited in claim 1 , wherein
the warning is issued as an alert sound.

4. The perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle recited in claim 3 , wherein
the display controller is configured to specify one or a plurality of camera images that capture at least one obstacle among the obstacle or plurality of obstacles when the obstacle detecting sensors have detected an obstacle or a plurality of obstacles, and
the display controller is configured to assign a priority ranking to each of the cameras based on a traveling state of the work vehicle and to select a camera image having a highest priority ranking among the camera images specified by the camera image specifying unit as the camera image displayed adjacent to the bird's-eye image.

5. A perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle configured to monitor a surrounding of the work vehicle and to display a monitored result on a display device, the perimeter monitoring device comprising:
a vehicle information detecting part configured and arranged to detect a vehicle speed of the work vehicle;
a plurality of cameras attached to the work vehicle, the cameras being configured and arranged obtain image data regarding the surrounding of the work vehicle;
a bird's-eye image display unit configured and arranged to display a bird's-eye image of the surrounding of the work vehicle on the display device based on the image data obtained by the cameras, the bird's-eye image display unit being configured not to display the bird's-eye image when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle information detecting part is larger than a predetermined threshold value;
a plurality of obstacle detecting sensors attached to the work vehicle, the obstacle detecting sensors being configured and arranged to detect obstacles in the surrounding of the work vehicle;
an obstacle processing part configured to issue an alert sound as a warning when the obstacle detecting sensors have detected an obstacle or a plurality of obstacles, the obstacle processing part being configured not to issue the alert sound when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle information detecting part is larger than the predetermined threshold value;
a camera image displaying unit configured to display a camera image based the image data obtained by one of the cameras adjacent to the bird's-eye image on the display device, the camera image displaying unit being configured not to display the camera image when the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle information detecting part is larger than the predetermined threshold value;
a camera image specifying unit configured to specify one or a plurality of camera images that capture at least one obstacle among the obstacle or plurality of obstacles when the obstacle detecting sensors have detected an obstacle or a plurality of obstacles,
the camera image displaying unit being configured to assign a priority ranking to each of the cameras based on a traveling state of the work vehicle and to select a camera image having a highest priority ranking among the camera images specified by the camera image specifying unit as the camera image displayed adjacent to the bird's-eye image,
a degree of the alert sound being stronger when the camera image displayed adjacent to the bird's-eye image has a higher priority ranking, and
the degree of the alert sound being weaker when the camera image displayed adjacent to the bird's eye image has lower priority ranking.

6. The perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle recited in claim 5 , wherein
the priority ranking assigned to each the cameras is one of at least a high level and a low level.

7. The perimeter monitoring device for a work vehicle recited in claim 5 , wherein
the priority ranking assigned to each the cameras is one of a high level, a middle level, and a low level.

Assignees

• Komatsu Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Mitsuta Shinji
• Harada Shigeru
• Tanuki Tomikazu
• Masutani Eishin
• Nakanishi Yukihiro
• Kurihara Takeshi
• Tsubone Dai
• Machida Masaomi

Classifications

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• B60K35/00

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title

• B60R2300/105

  using multiple cameras · CPC title

• E02F9/261

  Surveying the work-site to be treated · CPC title